Genesis: Jesus turns a funeral into a birthday. / Jeff Struecker

Big Idea: Jesus turns a funeral into a birthday. 

In the Beginning: Joseph

Genesis 50:1-14

I. The distance of death hurts. 1-6

Then Joseph, leaning over his father’s face, wept and kissed him. He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. They took forty days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s household, “If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that my father made me take an oath, saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I made for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.” So Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath.”

II. We grieve differently. 7-11

Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him, along with all Joseph’s family, his brothers, and his father’s family. Only their dependents, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father. When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim. It is across the Jordan.

III. Go any distance to honor a dying wish. 12-14

So Jacob’s sons did for him what he had commanded them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hethite. After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

Next Steps: 

• Believe: I want to be adopted into God’s family today. 
• Become: I will live for eternity this week. 
• Be Sent: I will show others that Jesus lives this week.

Group Discussion Questions: 

1. What makes funerals so painful?
2. Have you ever spoken during a funeral?  If so, what did you say?
3. Has death changed your family’s dynamics?  Why?
4. Read John 11:33.  What touched Jesus so profoundly?
5. Are you attempting to live out someone’s last words to you?  If so, explain. 
6. What would your last words be to your family and friends?
7. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you focus more on eternity tomorrow.